


Hardy

by IgnotusSomnium



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Gerry Lives, episode 111
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22239193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IgnotusSomnium/pseuds/IgnotusSomnium
Summary: Jon ends up with the hunters in America, and they direct him towards their greatest resource in monster hunting. He isn't expecting it to be a person.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 96





	Hardy

**Author's Note:**

> Gerry lives AU, where the hunters had him locked up the whole time. I might continue this AU in bits.
> 
> Most of the dialogue is direct from the episode.

“You’re not staying to… dunno, keep an eye on me?” Jon asked as he stared at the door. It had been locked with a variety of deadlocks, padlocks, and sliding bolts a moment ago, before Julia Montauk had undone everything. Even unlocked, it was a very intimidating door. Jon wasn’t sure what he would find beyond it, other than the hunters’ vague implication that his questions would be answered.

“No. It’s… Trevor doesn’t like dealing with it,” Julia said with an intense distaste in her expression. “I don’t either. Makes you feel paranoid for the next week, I swear.”

“Suppose I’m used to that,” Jon muttered. Then, louder, “Why keep it around, then?”

“‘Cause talking to monsters can keep you from getting eaten by them,” Trevor spat. “C’mon, Julia.” He turned and stalked into the cabin’s main room. 

“Knock when you’re done,” Julia said as she followed her fellow hunter. She closed the door behind her, leaving Jon alone in a hallway. Whatever was behind that door was bound to know he was there. For a moment Jon considered simply re-locking the door. He had seen enough monstrosity, enough horror, surely? He didn’t  _ have _ to go into this monster’s cell and open himself to even more. 

Halfway through that thought his hand turned the doorknob. 

The room was pitch black. The thin sliver of light from the hallway’s fluorescent bulb illuminated a very small, empty portion. There was no sound of movement. Jon used his left hand to feel around the wall for a light switch. To his surprise, he found one. A bare bulb flickered to life.

The light illuminated a dark figure huddled into a far corner of the room. Its eyes burned into Jon’s. They saw too much, too deeply. He felt like the floor had fallen out from underneath him, and for a moment he almost slammed the door shut.

Then it passed. The figure in the corner was just a person, dressed in ragged clothes. They had long hair, mostly black but with long mousy brown roots. Their skin was pale, and they had deep circles under their brown eyes.

“Oh.  _ Oh. _ Fuck.” The person’s voice crackled like they hadn’t spoken in a while. Jon wasn’t really sure how to respond. This  _ looked _ like a person, but he’d met enough monsters now to know that appearances didn’t really mean much. “Gertrude’s dead then?” the figure rasped.

Jon blinked. “Er, yes. How did - “

“How long?”

Jon looked over the stranger. The clothes - ragged flannel and oversized khaki - were not what he was expecting, and the tattoos on his hands had faded from wear. He still fit the description of a person he’d been searching for for well over a year.

“You’re Gerard Keay?” he asked.

The stranger shrugged, the movement clinking chains that held their - his hands behind his back. “You got me. How long has she been dead?”

“Two years," Jon said. “She died a year after you… disappeared.” At first he meant to leave it at that, but he has to ask, “What happened? We thought you died of a brain tumor.”

Gerard gave a dry, humorless laugh. “Is that what she put? Easier to put on the records than ‘Kidnapped by the daughter of a famous serial killer’, I suppose.” He shook his head. “How did she go? Was it peaceful?”

There was a strange tingling feeling in Jon’s throat, but he coughed and it went away. “No. No, it wasn’t.”

“Good. I don’t think she’d want that,” Gerard said. “God, I can’t imagine her dying in bed.” He leaned back so his head rested on the wall. “So you’re the new guy, then? Following in her footsteps?” There was a wry note in his voice that grated on Jon’s already strained nerves.

“I mean, some of them,” he admitted. “They… don’t exactly lead where I thought they would.” Like to a mystery man imprisoned in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, USA. 

Gerard attempted something like a laugh. “Yeah, she was like that.”

“I’m trying to stop the Unknowing,” Jon said. He was here for a reason, he reminded himself. 

Gerard sighed deeply. “She didn’t manage it, then?”

“Not before she… I need your help.”

Gerard snorted. “Do you now?”

“She thought she’d found a way to stop it. I think.” Jon said, the words coming forth in a rush. “If anyone knows what it was, it’s you.”

Silence met Jon’s admission. Gerard’s head hung low to his chest, shaking slowly. 

“No.”

“What?” Jon demanded. “Why not? If it happens, the Circus-”

“Yeah, the world changes in horrible ways,” Gerard grumbled. “For  _ you. _ I’m locked in here.”

“You can’t be serious,” Jon said. Only, he could imagine being in the same place. If he had been trapped in a cabin for three years, would he really care if the rest of the world went to hell?

"I’m dead serious,” Gerard growled. “How long have you been away from the Institute? A couple of weeks? I bet you’re already weaker. Sickly. Do you want to know what it’s like when you’ve gone months without a statement?” He laughed. “I only get the scraps they feel like giving me when they want me to answer questions about their Dracula of the week. So no. Help me, or you go to your little apocalypse with nothing.”

Nothing good would come of this, Jon was sure. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I want to leave. Either kill me, or get me out.”

“I. I- I can’t  _ do _ that,” Jon argued, his voice low in case the hunters were listening from the other door. “What if they check…”

“Guess you’d better hope they don’t,” Gerard said blithely. 

“Gerard, please!” Jon hissed. Gerard only rolled his eyes.

“You see that window?” Gerard asked. There was, actually, a window to Jon’s left. “Open it up and let me out.”

Those dark eyes seemed to stare through him. Jon knew there was no other way. Either he provoked the ire of the hunters, or he didn’t get his answers. 

Jon went over to the window, unlocked it, and slid it open. It went surprisingly easily, despite the age of the building. The hunters must have kept all the possible exits well maintained. 

Gerard shuffled to his feet. When he stood up, it was plainly obvious that the clothes hung off of him like he was little more than a wire hanger. It was amazing he was upright and moving at all, with that kind of skeletal frame. Eventually Gerard managed his way to the window and pushed himself through, onto the ground outside. He took a deep breath.

“Thank you,” Gerard said, his voice much softer. 

“Well, you’ve probably killed me,” Jon complained. He couldn’t feel any real malice, though. 

“It’s not so bad, I imagine,” Gerard said. “It’s staying alive that’s the worst.”


End file.
